Sharing the pleasures

"Neither a lender nor a borrower be"—fergetit!

This early-morning email made my day:

I am leaving in the basket on my front porch for you: a piece of mail that was delivered to us by mistake, and Sonya Sotomayor's, book, My Beloved World.   I have finished the book and thought you or someone else from the Monday group would like to read it while I am gone.  It is a quick read and interesting.

One of the pleasures of the reading life is sharing books you love with someone you know will appreciate them just as you do—or, that’s the hope. It’s not just the exchanging of the books themselves: it’s what embedded in the exchange. My friend Ruth remembered that we’d talked about Sotomayor’s memoir, My Beloved World, and that I’d expressed a keen interest in it. A friend who listens—priceless! And she knew I’d be glad to pass it on to the other members of our Monday morning coffee group. Thus, one book read and appreciated becomes a shared pleasure, an emblem also of shared interest.

Last year, my daughter Katherine passed on to me her copy of Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo, saying she loved it and thought I would, too. I pay attention to her passions, so this endorsement overcame my reluctance (laziness) to read what I knew, from reviews, to be a heart-wrenching book.  Now, when I read the book, I will be thinking of “my” Katherine and how she responded to the story. So, another layer in experiencing this book.

So, without beating a dead horse, this is one reason why I don’t like eBooks. You can’t share them.